Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls today revealed Sir John has agreed to devise a plan for an infrastructure commission to try to build cross-party consensus on the delivery of major infrastructure projects.

He is understood to have agreed to work for free on the project which aims to stop successive future Government “chopping and changing” projects of national significance for party political purposes.

Balls said the plan was about “not repeating the mistakes of the past, but learning from them”.

“Building a consensus which crosses party lines, without chopping and changing one parliament to the next. A consensus to rebuild Britain for the future.”

The proposed independent commission would assess and make proposals for long-term infrastructure projects, such as superfast broadband, nuclear power, a renewed National Grid, wind and tidal power plants, flood defences and new rail and airport capacity.

Sir John brings a wealth of experience having spent 27 years at Laing where he was chief executive of the civil engineering business, before moving on to Costain and then wearing a client’s hat as chief executive of Network Rail and the Olympic Deliver Authority.